Clothesrack



S. I. CLAWSON.

ACK.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.22, 1919.

Patented Dec. 12, 19212.

Patented Dec. 12, 19223..

"'Lt aye @ii ll ii syliiae SELDEN I. OLA'WSQN, OF fiAL'l LAKE CITY, UTAH.

CLOTHESRACK.

Application filed. August 22, 1919. Serial No. 319,206.

companying drawings, forming part of this specification.

This invention relates to clothes drying racks of the elevatory type which utilize the heatedair and unoccupied space in the upper part of a room for the purpose of drying wet or damp clothes, and has for its object the provision of a portable elevatory rack of such design that the guide rail common to all other elevator-y racks known to me may be eliminated and yet the rack be so balanced that the clothes suspended on the arms shall not touchthe wall on which the rack is hung.

By making the rack of small capacity, as illustrated herein, it is possible to easily elevate and balance it when loaded with clothes and to make it practicable to operate a number of such small well-balanced racks in succession to distribute the wet laundry evenly about the walls of the room, thus securing the maximum amount of exposed drying surface and also making it possible for the worker to make a cycle of the operation, some of the clothes drying on some of the racks while other racks are being loaded and elevated into position on the rest nails or nails near the ceiling. I

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the rack in its loaded elevated position, but with the clothes omitted.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the wire frame and showing the base block in cross section.

Fig.3 is a bottom plan view of my device with the wire frame partly broken away for convenience of illustration.

Fig. 1 is a similar view, but showing a modified form of base block and arrange-- ment of the arms.

In the use of the rack of the present invention, it is the intention that the worker shall hang the rack on a nail driven into the wall or other convenient support at such a height as may be desirable for ease of loading the rack with damp clothes on all of the arms, and shall then elevate the loaded rack by means of the rod which serves the dual function of support during such elevation and of a balancer when in place high on the wallwhere the unoccupied heated air space near the ceiling is utilized for the drying.

Referring now to the drawings, 5 represents the ceiling of a room of which 6 is the side wall; the latter having driven therein one or more loading nails 7 above which are located a plurality of pairsof co-operating nails 8 and 9, the former. or rest nail,

serving to support the loaded rack, while i the lower nail 9 tends to prevent side movement of the rack about nail 8 as a pivot.

The rack is composed of three main parts, the wire frame 10, the prop 11 and the base block 12 with its arms 13 which may be integral therewith, but are preferably secured to the lower face of the base block 12 as showninl Figs. 3 and 4. In either of the forms shown the base block is provided with aplane face let adapted to lie against the supporting wall 6 and-has a notch 15 in each side wall near the face 14 to receive the corner 16 of the wire frame 10. The arms 13 extend either radially as in Fig. 3 which is thepreferred form. or parallel to each other as in Fig. 4., and thebase block is shaped accordingly.

The wire frame 10 is bent into an open square having in addition to the two corners 16, an upper hook 17 to rest on the nails 7 or 8 and the two uneven ends of the wire are twisted together as at 18 to complete the square while the longer end 19 is extended forwardly into a loop 20 which receives the prop 11 which is fastened securely to the base block 12 at 21 in any desired manner, but in such manner that the lower tip 22 of the prop shall rest against the wall. 6 when the face 1 1 is in contact therewith and, the wire frame 10 in position upon the proper naihthis being particularly convenient when the rack is upon the loading nail. since at such time the tip 22 rests against the top of the base board (not shown) of the wall 6, and, therefore, assists in supporting as well as balancing the load. Since the frame 10 is formed of a single piece of wire, it may be sprung width-wise to receive the base block 12 by pressing together the hook end 17 and the twisted portion 19.

In operation the racks are hung on the rest nails near the ceiling when not in use and are taken therefrom one at a time when desired for loading with damp clothes, and placed upon a loading nail 7 with the prop balancing the same, as previously stated. The wet clothes are now placed on the arms of the rack and when properly and evenly loaded the worker takes hold of the prop with both hands and elevates and balances the loaded rack above her head, carries it to the rest nail and, elevating the loaded rack still higher, hangsthe rack upon restnail 8, and then brings the lower triangle of the wire frame into registry with nail 9. Another raclr may now be taken down from the rest nail and hung upon. the loading nail. After it has received the load itcan be returned to the rest nail and a thirdrack taken to be loaded.

A person can readily see how a number of racks could thus be employed.

- The drying of the clothes is greatly accel-' crated and the work of elevating and balancmg the loaded rack is greatly relieved by di tributing the laundry in small divisions around the room.

When four racks are in use the first rack loaded will be found dry enough to begin ironing by the time the operator has loaded and hung up the fourth rack load. 1 consider my invention broad enough to include other designs of construction.

lVhat is claimed is:

1. A drying rack of the character de scribed, comprising an arm supporting member, a plurality of arms extending in a substantially horizontal direction when the de vice is in use, hanging means secured to the 1 ,esaesv supporting member, an extension on said means, and an element securedto said arm supporting member and said extension and ifrictionally engaging the supporting wall to brace the rack.

2. In a clothes drying rack, a base block having a straight face and aplurality of notches, a flexible wire frame adapted to be sprung to engage said notches and having an extended end bent to form a loop, and a prop passing through said loop and engagsaid base block in order to balance the load on said rack.

3. In a clothes drying rack, a base block, a plurality arms extending therefrom, a wire frame secured to said base block and having an upwardiy eXtending nail-engaging member and a downwardly extending prop-engaging.member, a prop secured to said base block and to said frame and directed at such angle to said base block and frame that the lower edge of said prop will engage a vertical wall when said frame and base plate are secured thereto.

In a clothes rack, means for holding clot-hes, a'wire frame for suspending said means, an angularly extending member on said frame having an eye at the extremity thereof, and an angularly projecting prop secured to said holding means at one end, extending through said eye and friction-ally engaging at its lower free end, the supporting wall.

I SELDEN l. CLANSON.

Witnesses y l VM. T. Fouronn,

ll l. G. MORRIS, 

